Chapter 1179: The Grand Competition

Cheng Cai had been doing quite well in the Third Company. He had fulfilled his wish of becoming a sniper, and in other areas like physical fitness, tactics, and professional skills, he was no slouch, becoming one of the Third Company's top soldiers.

Naturally, he participated in this grand competition as well.

He knew that Wang Yan would definitely participate, and he wanted to defeat Wang Yan in some of the events during this competition.

He didn't dare claim he could win in all events, because as hard as he trained, he still lagged far behind the results Wang Yan achieved with such ease. He could only try to compete with Wang Yan in tactics and marksmanship...

The 702nd Regiment was a fully-staffed armored regiment with over two thousand men. For the regimental-level grand competition, soldiers with sufficient skill levels were recommended by their respective units and gathered at the regimental headquarters, totaling about two hundred people.

These men had arrived at the regimental headquarters a day early. After breakfast, they all gathered together to listen to the speech by the regimental leaders.

First, they spoke of the significance, then the goals, and finally, they offered encouragement and exhortations. Once this set of somewhat official yet practical words was finished, the preliminary rounds for the 2004 grand competition officially began.

Overall, the competition was still divided into three parts: physical fitness, tactics, and professional skills. Among these, the professional skills portion also involved a written test.

Depending on the branch and specialty, the professional skills exams were arranged separately. However, physical fitness and tactics were common to all, so they were assessed together.

After the speech, the soldiers, who had received their competition numbers the day before, immediately began the physical fitness tests, starting with a ten-kilometer light-gear track run.

Wang Yan patted Wu Liuyi on the arm: "Run at my pace."

"I'll definitely be able to keep up," Wu Liuyi nodded.

He had already expressed his embarrassment long ago; the only way Wang Yan could help him was in these long-distance running events. Wang Yan couldn't help him with the rest of the subjects.

Of course, there was a strategy to where one stood for the run. With nearly two hundred people together, the people in the back could be more than ten seconds behind those in the front. But the timing was simultaneous. If you were good, you'd overtake them; if you weren't, being ten seconds behind didn't matter—it didn't affect anything. Looking at it this way, it actually seemed exceptionally fair.

Wang Yan didn't crowd in to grab a position; he and Wu Liuyi stood in the middle of the outermost lane.

As soon as the gunshot rang out, the soldiers responded quickly and took off running...

Cheng Cai was also in the pack, though he deliberately positioned himself a few spots behind Wang Yan.

After the gunshot, the soldiers immediately merged toward the inner lanes; only a few chose to set the pace in the outer lanes, hoping to disrupt their opponents and grab the front row of the inner lanes.

Without a doubt, Wang Yan and Wu Liuyi were the runners accelerating in the outer lane.

Seeing Wang Yan directly pick up the pace, Wu Liuyi followed closely behind, his two thighs churning rapidly as he ran fast in rhythm with Wang Yan. Cheng Cai, not afraid of getting a beating, gritted his teeth and chased after Wu Liuyi, following Wang Yan's lead.

He deeply understood Wang Yan's terrifying physical fitness, so he gave in to his heart, swearing to piggyback his way to a good result.

He didn't think there was any problem with that; after all, it was his own two legs doing the running. If he wasn't up to standard himself, he wouldn't be able to keep up with Wang Yan's pace anyway.

The only downside was that he knew Wang Yan looked down on him and might beat him up. But since he wasn't afraid of getting beaten up anymore, what else was there?

While Wu Liuyi was running, a glance from the corner of his eye caught Cheng Cai following behind, and he couldn't help but pat Wang Yan on the shoulder.

Wang Yan had, of course, already noticed. He immediately looked back once, said nothing, and took no other action.

He was currently protecting Wu Liuyi. There were still many events left in the competition; if he changed his pace and exhausted Wu Liuyi, affecting his later performance, it wouldn't be worth the loss.

As for Cheng Cai following along to piggyback on the pace, that was a minor issue. After all, if Cheng Cai wasn't there to piggyback, there would be other soldiers.

He had already completed the overtake in the outer lane, merged into the inner circle, and was temporarily in first place. Behind him were Wu Liuyi and three other soldiers from the Seventh Company, followed by Cheng Cai, and then the other soldiers participating in the grand competition.

Wang Yan's running speed wasn't fast, but it was definitely not slow.

These soldiers could be said to be the essence of the entire 702nd Regiment; one could say the combat power of the entire regiment was built on the foundation of these soldiers. When a real war broke out, they would all be the vanguard.

Their comprehensive quality was absolutely not bad; one was fiercer than the next. They followed Wang Yan's speed without much effort, and even from time to time, someone would try to overtake on the outside.

So Wang Yan started playing dirty.

Just like he had conditioned Wu Liuyi earlier, he constantly changed his pace, fast one moment and slow the next, continuously draining the other soldiers' stamina. Being able to run for a long time didn't mean one could run at variable speeds.

As they ran, Cheng Cai was unable to keep up several times and nearly fell behind. But even if he did keep up, he was in a sorry state, yet he didn't dare slack off, because once he fell behind, he would never be able to catch up again.

The other soldiers were the same.

If Wang Yan led Wu Liuyi to accelerate and they didn't follow, then Wang Yan would definitely slow down, leaving a large gap. And that large gap, on the remaining route, would require more stamina to close.

If they chased, they would have to burst with energy in a short time, which also consumed stamina.

In summary, it was a matter of who had enough stamina.

Wu Liuyi was different; he had run behind Wang Yan's butt enough times that he had adapted to this intensity of variable-speed running and even had some energy to spare.

And this was the key to Wang Yan saying he would secure a Third-Class Merit for Wu Liuyi; he just had to be able to keep up.

Just like that, ten kilometers passed quickly. In the final stage, Wang Yan and Wu Liuyi were half a lap ahead.

No matter how much Cheng Cai gritted his teeth, he couldn't keep up anymore. He wasn't weak, but he wasn't strong enough yet.

Near the finish line, Wang Yan slowed down, gave up his position, and let Wu Liuyi pass first; he followed behind at a leisurely jog, unhurried.

Everyone present, of course, saw Wang Yan and Wu Liuyi's intentions, and the leaders watching the competition just smiled and let it pass; no one cared about such issues. Still the same saying: if you want to do this, you have to be able to lead and keep up.

Even if the two of them were playing tricks and using methods here, there was nothing wrong with it; winning was winning, and the others just couldn't keep up. After this ten-kilometer run, half the soldiers had been exhausted by Wang Yan.

After this group crossed the line, they all grimaced, clutching their waists, staring at Wang Yan and cursing with a smile.

"You turtle's son, who runs like that?"

"Exactly, exactly."

Wang Yan laughed out loud, facing the soldiers' curses calmly, and retorted, not losing out at all.

After a noisy period and a short rest, they continued with the physical fitness competitions. Such as the 400-meter obstacle course, three-kilometer, five-kilometer, push-ups, pull-ups, and so on.

They didn't even eat lunch, just bam-bam-bam, a round of physical fitness competitions.

Immediately after, in the afternoon, they went outside to run a five-kilometer armed cross-country; the result of this event was, of course, no surprise: Wu Liuyi was in first place, Wang Yan was still second, and he even broke the record previously set by Old Ma.

As for the other soldiers, they were a bit worse off, with the short ones being ten or twenty seconds behind, and the long ones being over a minute behind.

In the afternoon, the soldiers' stamina was exhausted, and both their minds and bodies were very tired, yet they had to take the written test for professional skills, which was quite a torture.

But for Wang Yan, it didn't matter; he was even the first to hand in his paper...

The next day, gunshots rang out at the shooting range.

Everyone watched the figure in the field holding a rifle, slightly hunched over, moving rapidly with small strides.

This was an extremely standard firing-on-the-move posture.

He didn't seem to need to aim; he fired rapidly at fixed targets, and didn't hesitate at all for moving targets; he fired as soon as he saw them, decisive and resolute, steady, accurate, and ruthless.

He side-stepped, rolled, crawled, and jumped; all kinds of tactical movements were fluid and natural.

The voice of the target reporter came over; besides reporting the ring counts, the word said most often was "Hit"—those were numerous, various, and unexpected moving targets.

This almost became Wang Yan's solo performance; it was his stage alone, and the other soldiers who had practiced combat skills hard became foils, eclipsed in front of him, their hearts frustrated.

Cheng Cai was frustrated.

He thought that after such a period of time, even if he couldn't catch up to Wang Yan, at least the distance should have narrowed, not to mention he had come with the mindset of defeating Wang Yan in some events.

But he never imagined that when they really competed, he would face such a result.

Cheng Cai felt his sky had collapsed, his person was shattered...

Just like that, after more than three days of high-intensity competition and confrontation, the regimental-level competition concluded successfully.

Wang Yan had slightly displayed his strength; except for letting Wu Liuyi win a few events, everything else he participated in was first place. He broke and set numerous new records, and for a time, he was unrivaled in the 702nd Regiment.

As for Cheng Cai, who was already shattered, Wang Yan naturally paid no attention; he didn't know what Cheng Cai's psychological activities were.

He only knew that when everyone gathered at the beginning, the gazes cast over were still eager to try, but as they competed, Cheng Cai stopped looking at him, and occasionally when his gaze swept over, Cheng Cai would quickly avoid it.

It had directly destroyed Cheng Cai's confidence...

"Wang Yan."

A chubby man with gray hair on his head and two stars and three stripes on his shoulders walked over with a smile and stuffed the honorary certificate into Wang Yan's hand.

This person was none other than the 702nd Regiment Commander, Wang Qingrui.

"Good day, Leader!" Wang Yan stood at attention and saluted.

"Good, good." Wang Qingrui nodded with a smile and patted Wang Yan's arm, "You performed well; your military literacy is very solid."

"Serve the people!"

"I hope you will continue to work hard, perform well in the division or even in our Beijing Military Region, make a name for yourself, and bring back honors."

"Yes!"

Wang Qingrui didn't say much more; he stood with Wang Yan with a smile, letting the propaganda officer take photos.

After the ceremony, Wang Yan accepted an interview and expressed some thoughts, which was considered completely finished...

Gao Cheng had been waiting on the side for a long time; seeing it end, he stepped forward and took the honorary certificate Wang Yan handed over to look through it.

He nodded with satisfaction and said: "Not bad, not bad. You really gave me a surprise; good fellow, you're about to sweep all the first places in our regiment."

"Then you still don't understand me, Company Commander; these things are all minor matters."

"Don't talk big; when the division competition comes down, you'll be losing face in a big way." Gao Cheng waved his hand.

"Hey, Company Commander, I think he's not talking big. It might just happen that even if he competes to the Military Region, he could still sweep all the first places and come back," Wu Liuyi said. "Hey, wait, if that's the case, I'm afraid our company won't be able to keep him."

"I'm not that kind of person," Wang Yan said. "I've already looked into it; officer promotion isn't direct either; it seems you still have to be a squad leader or something. If I'm not promoted to an officer and they transfer me to another unit, what's the point of me switching? Our Steel Seventh Company is definitely the best."

"That's right," Gao Cheng nodded. "With your strength, officer promotion is 100%; I'll guarantee that for you."

"I'm a good soldier, so it'll definitely work. Company Commander, you have to fight for the Deputy Squad Leader of the Fifth Squad."

Gao Cheng looked left and right and whispered: "Does this still need fighting for? Running two first places in the grand competition and breaking our regiment's records, a Third-Class Merit is no problem at all. However, to be safe, when you go to the division, you still have to perform well. In case someone else from our regiment performs well, it will still have an impact."

"No problem," Wang Yan nodded with a smile.

"Let's go, let's go, today is a great day; let's go to the service center to have a drink; my treat."

Gao Cheng's voice was very loud, letting everyone hear, and he greeted the other three soldiers who had participated but had mediocre results to go to the service center and have a hearty meal...

After resting for two days, Wang Yan, along with Wu Liuyi and other soldiers from the regiment, went to the division to participate in the competition.

Just like the competition in the regiment, Wang Yan still helped Wu Liuyi win first place in several running events, with himself in second place. In addition, in all other events he participated in, he was still in first place.

By this time, his name was already quite famous.

After all, being first in one event and being first in all of them were two different things.

Especially in the most blood-boiling unarmed combat, Wang Yan basically knocked someone down in three punches and two kicks. So much so that at the time, a leader directly determined he was first, and others competed for second. Those who weren't convinced could come and challenge him again.

This was, of course, very majestic.

However, at the division level, the intensity of the confrontation increased quite a bit, and Wu Liuyi felt the strain. But his task had already been completed, his harvest was rich, and Wang Yan was so damn strong that it made people despair, so he didn't struggle too hard.

By the time of the Group Army grand competition, he couldn't keep up with the running events anymore; there were truly fierce people there.

Wang Yan, of course, was still running while suppressing others, but the rhythm changed too fast, and Wu Liuyi couldn't adapt; even though Wang Yan had the heart to lead him, he couldn't keep up anymore. After all, it was a sprint from the start, and he really couldn't take it.

The grand competition was a stage for the competition of "big animals."

Unsurprisingly, Wang Yan's competition in the Group Army was still just as shocking, crushing the other participating soldiers, making people despair.

By the time he arrived at the Military Region outside Beijing to participate in the final, the leaders had already started pointing at him from afar; he was outrageously strong.

"Hello, you're Wang Yan, right?"

A man with a square face, two stars and two stripes on his shoulders, wearing a regular uniform, walked over.

"Good day, Leader!"

"Hey, no need to be so polite." This person patted Wang Yan on the shoulder with a smile, "I've heard about your affairs; nothing else, just one word: awesome!"

"Thank you, Leader!"

"I said no need to be so polite. This is the Military Region Headquarters; just walking by, you see more field officers than you saw in your old unit in a year. I'm just a small lieutenant colonel, not worth mentioning.

Let me introduce myself, my name is Yuan Lang. The purpose of finding you is to see how you, kid, are doing. As for the rest, we'll talk after the grand competition ends."

Wang Yan laughed: "Report, there's no need to talk about the rest; I guess the leader sees that my bones are strange, that I'm a rare talent of a generation, and wants to recruit me under your command. But I'm doing quite well in our company now; unless a direct order is given, if it's my personal choice, I don't want to leave."

Yuan Lang didn't mind; he patted Wang Yan's arm: "It's too early to say these things now. After the grand competition ends, I'll take you around to see; maybe you'll change your mind by then. Don't speak too full; it's easy to get slapped in the face. Let's go, compete well."

Yuan Lang came suddenly and left gracefully.

Wang Yan didn't care; he was still creating his own legendary story... ===== CHAPTER 1180 =====